Last December, APBA was awarded RD&i Management System certification by AENOR, crediting our Port Authority with UNE 166002:2014 Standard compliance to do research, development and innovation activities in the areas of logistics and port business.
The award ceremony took place at APBA headquarters and was witnessed by our Chairman, Mr. Gerardo Landaluce Calleja; our General Manager, Mr. José Luis Hormaechea; our CIO, Mr. Francisco De los Santos; and AENOR Andalusias Manager, Mr. Antonio Perez.
The UNE 166002:2014 RD&i Management: RD&i Management System Requirements certification focuses its aims on organising, systemising and permanently improving RD&I activities to achieve maximum effectiveness and efficiency in research, development and innovation work. Moreover, the certification demonstrates the level of quality achieved in the innovation activities carried out by APBA over the last few years, as well as the level of coordination and systemisation of innovation processes focused on striving for excellence and a greater degree of Port of Algeciras customer and user satisfaction.
The award was another milestone for our commitment to innovation. It is a renowned honour that acknowledges that APBA boasts an RD&I Management System that is both mature, competitive and valuable. Its efficiency does not depend on one particular person and supports our good practices in this field: always to strive for continuous improvement and to promote high levels of quality in the innovation activities and projects we have undertaken.
With the implementation of our RD&I Management System, it is not only the key processes that are regulated and systemised from a cross-disciplinary initiatives conception all the way through to its execution: it has also allowed us to set up new procedures that can help improve technological surveillance, knowledge management, open innovation and the implementation of innovation back-up tools, the keys to development and growth. We have made sure that we strategically complied with all the guidelines that make up the Next Generation Port concept. That is an intelligent Just In Time Port.
As Francisco De los Santos (our CIO) stated: this certification is yet another important step towards systemising innovation within our organisation and integrating it as a key business process a key factor that will give us a competitive edge over other pioneering organisations. We have been promoting this vision for many years now at the Port of Algeciras Bay and it has helped us to manage the 70-plus ideas that we have received over recent months. We have undertaken several pilot schemes by applying the latest trends in digital innovation with a high rate of success.
Finally, we would like to underline that APBA has relied on the help of IDOM, the company who has helped in the definition and implementation of our RD&I Management System, to make APBA the first Port Authority in Spain and one of only a handful of Public Authorities (save Research Centres) to be awarded this certification.
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